Identity Theft Read online

  Let us also consider that this was on the morning of Shavuot, one of the most significant days of the Jewish year. It was the custom of the disciples to worship and pray in the Temple courtyard daily—how much more on Shavuot? Luke records: “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the Temple, praising God” (Luke 24:51-53). This passage refers specifically to the ten days immediately after the ascension leading to Shavuot.

  Furthermore, the Upper Room, at least the place where it is believed to have been, is a good twenty-minute walk from the Temple Mount and the immersion pools. The throng of Jewish pilgrims who witnessed the outpouring would have been at the Temple on Shavuot, as that is why they had journeyed to Israel. At the very least, if it was a home, it had to be adjacent to the temple.

  2. “Southern Temple Mount,” Excavations (BiblePlaces.com), Mikveh, accessed November 17, 2012, http://www.bibleplaces.com/southerntm.htm.

  Chapter Thirteen

  CELEBRATE THE

  SABBATH AND FORFEIT

  YOUR SALVATION!

  Back in the classroom, the lesson began…

  “In the year 364 CE, at the Council of Laodicea, the Church formally declared Sunday as the Lord’s Day, the day of worship and rest, effectively changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday—at least in their minds. The pervading sentiment of the Council is given expression in this quote from Canon XXIX:

  Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, they shall work on that day; but the Lord’s Day they shall especially honor; and being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.1

  “These believers were not merely discouraged from celebrating the Jewish Sabbath, they were commanded not to do so. If they did, they would be ‘anathema from Christ,’ as another English translation of the same quote says. That means they would be, in the eyes of the Church—but not the Father’s, mind you—cut off from the Church and the Messiah—in short excommunicated.”

  “How could they do that if it is not expressly written in the New Covenant? Where did they get the authority to do such things?” I asked.

  “That goes back to the Kefa debacle. Remember when we talked about how the Roman Catholic Church misinterpreted Yeshua’s comment to Kefa?”

  “Yes,” I said, marveling that my capacity to absorb information here was at least ten times what it had been when I was in university. “Yeshua was saying that the rock He would build His Kehila on was the revelation that He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Roman Catholics believe that Kefa himself was the rock, and that is why they assume he was the first pope.”

  Ariel added, “From there they somehow concluded that Kefa, ‘the first pope,’ had special authority when it came to issues of doctrine, and so every pope after him had this same authority. This really gave them carte blanche when it came to dogma. They could basically make up whatever served their purposes, whether it was in the Bible or not, and then declare that it was binding—not because God had said it, but because He had given them the authority to do so. In fact, later they would claim that not only did the Pope have permission to establish doctrine, but that he could not err in doing so—he was infallible. He was preserved by God from error. It is taught that this was an expression of God’s love to protect the Church from deception, which is in fact why we have His Word. In truth, this was invented so that the Church could control the people and the Pope’s authority over doctrine was drilled into them. For example, in The Convert’s Catechism for Catholic Doctrine, the question is asked, ‘By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?’ The answer: ‘The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her.’2

  “The Scriptures are the highest authority for the body of believers. Yet they base this change not on the authority of Scripture, but upon their own misguided reasoning that the Father had given them authority beyond Scripture,” Ariel concluded. “Over the centuries the Church has abused its authority, using it to manipulate those dependent upon its leadership for guidance.”

  “That’s horrible. How does God react to people who take their own ideas and turn them into hard and fast doctrine? They don’t even give scriptural support for their ruling because they claim, ‘The Church has authority.’”

  “Well David, He gets downright langry!”

  “Langry?”

  “Yeah, I made it up, it means that first He laughs at how utterly ridiculous it is for mere men, His creation, to pretend that they speak for Him without first speaking to Him—and then He gets angry.

  “In Psalm 2, when speaking about the nations’ attitude toward Yeshua and Jerusalem, He also gets langry.” My tablet signaled new activity, as Psalm 2:1-6 materialized.

  Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against hHis anointed one. “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.” But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain” (NLT).

  “I always picture the United Nations when I read that passage. All those little people wielding too much authority, pretending that they can out-vote God. You humans are something else, you know—heads of nations parading around with their entourages, feeling very important. From our vantage point, they look like ants—ants who talk too much!

  “You see David, Yeshua’s idea of leadership is so totally different from man’s.”

  The board flickered and, as on a movie screen, I saw Yeshua and His disciples. I was fascinated by what I witnessed. The meal was ending as Yeshua got up from the table. He took off His outer garment and wrapped a towel around Himself. What was He doing? I noticed that the faces of His disciples were equally mystified as He took a large washbowl and carefully filled it with water. Then placing it on the floor beside Him, He knelt down and started washing their feet.

  What impressed me most was the manner in which He did it, showing all the tenderness and love with which a mother would wash her infant child. Don’t get me wrong, the man I was watching was 100 percent masculine; His hands were strong and angular. The hands of a carpenter, I thought. Hadn’t Chaya shared in her story earlier that He was a woodworker by trade?

  Having carefully washed the feet of each one of them, Yeshua was resisted by Peter alone, who at first protested and then consented to the act of servanthood and affection. Yeshua then drew the towel from His waist and, exhibiting the same gentleness, dried their feet…at which point the image faded from view.

  “Impressive, huh?” said the angel.

  “Wow.” I wiped a tear from my eye. “Such love and humility,” I marveled. This short scene really touched me. “But why did Kefa object?” I asked.

  “Kefa felt like many of us would—he felt it wasn’t right for someone of Yeshua’s standing to lower Himself and do the work of a servant, but that was exactly the point He wanted to make. To be a true leader you had to be willing to be a servant. He was setting an example.

  “That is the model of New Testament leadership,” Ariel shared, “but rarely does a man lead from love. Most aspire to leadership for reasons of selfish ambition; to boost their ego, to have control or to compensate for some lack in their own self-esteem. But Yeshua said that to be a leader you must be the servant of all, and He set the example, not only by washing the feet of His protégés, but by laying down His life for all humankind.

  “Here is one of the most ancient creeds of the first believers.”

  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

  “Good leadership will always be accompanied by a deep concern for the welfare of those under their authority. Because of His great love, He left Heaven—He left the Father’s side—to come to earth.

  “Furthermore, when human leaders make decisions without consulting God’s Word, or that are contrary to God’s will, they invariably end up doing more harm than good. They fail to see the big picture, and can only guess at how their actions or decisions might affect those who will come after them. It was the same with this Council. They thought changing the Sabbath was harmless back in 364 CE, but now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can clearly see how the edict not only provided the groundwork for future persecution of the Jews but sadly erected an insurmountable barrier to Jewish people even considering Yeshua.”

  A new passage appeared on my tablet: “But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep” (Luke 19:41 NLT).

  “Luke records that Yeshua was weeping over Jerusalem because they hadn’t recognized the day of their visitation. But,” Ariel expanded, “His weeping was not for that generation only.”

  As the scene unfolded before me, I saw Yeshua gazing down upon Jerusalem as He made His way down the Mount of Olives. His soul was in anguish as He saw the suffering of His people down through the centuries; suffering which could have been averted had they only recognized and welcomed their Messiah

  As He began to weep, it was as if I were seeing what He saw. And together we watched a series of scenes unfold, one after the other:

  First, I saw the Romans destroy the city in 70 CE, the Temple being destroyed and the city burned. Thousands were massacred—men, women, and children.

  Then I saw the Romans crush the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE Those murdered were too numerous to count. For ten years, the Jews were not allowed to bury their dead. Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina, referencing false gods, and Judea was renamed Palestine, as the Emperor sought to disassociate it from the Jewish people. Jews were barred from Jerusalem. Then I saw a series of blood libels, where Jews were accused of kidnapping Christian children and using their blood in the making of matzah (a patently ludicrous accusation in light of the Jewish food laws which prohibited the eating of blood). Tragically, countless numbers of Jews—whole communities, were killed.

  Next, I saw the Crusaders overtaking Jerusalem, butchering almost the entire city.

  This was followed by Inquisitions—Jews being tortured, forced to convert, or expelled from their countries.

  Next I saw a Ukrainian man, whose name I instinctively knew was Bohdan Khmelnytsky. This leader and instigator of hundreds of pogroms murdered tens of thousands of Jews in the most vicious and sadistic ways, most of whom had previously fled other nations where they were not welcome to come to Poland, a nation considered a safe haven for Jews until Khmelnytsky came on the scene.

  “Stop!” I screamed. “I can’t take anymore!”

  “You made it further than most. Still, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the burden that Yeshua carries. He sees it all, past, present, and future. When He wept over Jerusalem, it wasn’t merely for the Jews of that time. He was able to see the terrible persecutions that awaited them in the future, both in Israel and in the Diaspora…and it broke His heart.”

  The Messiah’s image faded from view as I wiped beads of sweat from my brow. “I thought we were talking about Sunday worship. How did this get so intense?”

  “Interesting you should say that, because those responsible for the seemingly innocuous act of changing the day of worship didn’t realize either that it would lead all the way to murder and even genocide.

  “Okay. Are you ready to continue now?”

  “Can you promise to keep it light?”

  Notes

  * * *

  1. John Nevins Andrews, History of the Sabbath and the First Day of the Week (Washington, DC: Review & Herald Publishing Assoc., 1912), 409.

  2. Rev. Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (St. Louis: Herder Book Co., 1946), 48.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “THEORY” TRUMPS

  “COMMANDMENT”?

  “Other well-meaning Christians have bought into different theories about why the Sabbath was changed or should be changed, but that’s all they are, theories. None of them in any way abrogates Exodus 20.”

  Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11).

  “It would seem to me,” I offered, “that to change something so explicit—one of the Ten Commandments—you would need an equally explicit command.”

  “Exactly. There are of course those who hold the view that since we are now no longer under Law but under grace, that we no longer need to keep the Sabbath. If followed to its logical conclusion, this argument would remove any obligation to keep the other nine of the Ten Commandments as well—Heaven forbid that believers embrace adultery, thievery, and murder because they are ‘no longer under the Law.’

  “Another commonly held idea is that because the resurrection occurred on the first day of the week and is referred to as the Lord’s Day, another error which we will cover in a few minutes, it now supersedes the Sabbath as the day of worship or celebration.”

  “But there is actually nothing in the new Testament that specifically says the Sabbath was changed to Sunday.” I reiterated.

  “Nothing! Now that doesn’t mean that there are not a few passages that have been misinterpreted. For instance, Yeshua appeared to His disciples as they were gathered together on the Sunday on which He rose from the dead.”

  “But they weren’t having a service, were they? They had just two days earlier witnessed their leader being executed. I imagine they spent most of their time together after that.”

  “Yes, you are right, David, but some say they were together on Sunday, when Yeshua appeared to them again a week later, according to John’s Gospel.”

  The white screen hummed to life and a character I’d not yet met appeared.

  “Hello David, my name is Toma, some call me Doubting Thomas, but that really isn’t fair. It was just the one time and you have to admit, it had been a rough few days for all of us.”

  “Really? What about when you blurted out on the way to raise Lazarus from the dead, ‘Let’s go, too—and die with Yeshua’?” Ariel was laughing.

  “That wasn’t doubt, Angel; that was courage. I was willing to die. So I misunderstood the mission. But still, I was ready to pay the ultimate price. And concerning His first appearance, don’t forget I hadn’t seen Yeshua and the others had. I’d arrived late that first night He appeared to them, and missed seeing Him. So naturally I was pretty skeptical about it all. Who wouldn’t be? It had been an extremely stressful time. I thought they were probably seeing things. You know, lack of sleep and all that. Anyway, I am here because I’ve got a message for my Jewish brother here. You ready, David?” Toma asked.

  “Sure.” I liked his personality.

  “Okay. Even though I missed the first meeting, I made sure I was there for the second meeting—not that we knew when He would come back. I just made sure that I stayed close to home. And as it turned out, my brothers weren’t so crazy after all.”

  A passage appeared on my tablet that read, “A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’” (John 20:26).
r />   “I nearly jumped out of my skin!” exclaimed Toma. “I was standing there talking when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. And there He was, smiling the biggest smile. You could tell He was enjoying it.

  “‘Peace be with you,’ He said. Peace? I nearly fainted.”

  Ariel interrupted him, “What day of the week was that?”

  “If you knew Greek,” Toma became more serious, “you would know that it doesn’t actually say a week later, but eight days later! Now I know that some have argued that the counting included resurrection Sunday, but I was there!”

  “Well?” I asked, “Which was it—Sunday or Monday?”

  “Let me ask you something first,” said Toma.

  Oy, these people are always answering questions with questions, I thought.